Share This Story!

Hear that? Sony has new line of high-res audio gear

High-resolution music, available in digital formats far richer than MP3s, can match and surpass CD-quality with the potential to rival vinyl's acoustics. Sony Electronics has new high-res products in the works.

Posted!

Join the Nation's Conversation

Hear that? Sony has new line of high-res audio gear

Mike Snider, USA TODAY
9:23 a.m. EDT September 5, 2013

Hearing more of the music is the goal of a new line of Sony receivers, speakers and other products that play high-resolution music downloads.

In this publicity image released by Sony/Legacy Records, musician Miles Davis is shown during recording session in 1959 for "Kind of Blue." His music is among to be made available in new high-resolution music downloads.(Photo: Don Hunstein, AP)

The electronics company introduced a new line of products, coming this fall, that process and play a variety of high-resolution music formats, including new Direct Stream Digital (DSD) downloads.

Several music companies, including Sony, Universal and Warner, pledged to support the movement with added high-res releases. Among the artists with music preloaded on new Sony products: Miles Davis (So What), Willie Nelson (Georgia on My Mind), Aretha Franklin (Baby, I Love You) and the Beach Boys (Good Vibrations).

Newer releases from artists including Sting, John Mayer and Sheryl Crow will be among the 20 high-res tracks pre-loaded on two new Sony high-res music players due out this fall. Also coming: a digital-to-analog converter for connecting computer-based music libraries to home stereos, new high-res speakers and headphones.

Sony and the labels hope to attract consumers with downloadable music that improves on MP3 and other compressed formats. High-res downloads can surpass CD-quality sound and deliver a vinyl-like listening experience.

"It's been more than a decade since the first MP3 digital downloads and music players were introduced to the public," said Sony President and COO Phil Molyneux in a statement released in conjunction with the Wednesday announcement. "Now is the time to offer high-resolution audio products that bring music enthusiasts closer to their favorite recordings, and allow them to experience those recordings the way the artists, producers and engineers always intended."

Consumers have a growing interest in high-resolution music, Molyneux said, citing new data from the Consumer Electronics Association. For nine in 10 consumers, sound quality is the most important component of a quality audio experience, research suggests. And almost 40% of consumers with a moderate interest in audio say they are willing to pay more for high-quality audio electronics devices.

The Sony HAP-Z1ES 1TB Hi-Res Music Player has a built-in 1 terabyte hard drive to store, play back and decode virtually all Hi-Res audio formats.(Photo: Sony Electronics)

That's good, because the new products from Sony are premium-priced. The 1-terabyte Sony Hi-Res HDD Music Player (model number HAP-Z1ES) is priced at $1,999 and due this fall. In addition to handling nearly all high-res formats it also upscales music to DSD quality. You can sync music from your PC via ethernet or Wi-Fi and then play it directly from the music player over your home stereo.

A lower-priced Sony HAP-S1 Hi-Res Music Player System ($999) has similar capabilities, but sports only a 500-gigabyte hard drive. For those who prefer to keep a computer as the center of their digital music system, the USB Hi-Res DAC System (UDA-1, $799) is a digital-to-analog converter that bridges your iTunes collection on a Windows or Macintosh PC to your sound system (other music software such as Windows Media Player is supported, too).

Two types of Hi-Res speakers (priced at $599 and $399 per pair) are due in the fall, along with the other product releases, as are three types of headphones, starting at $199. For more information go to Sony's Hi-Res Music site.

This isn't the first time that Sony and record labels have supported high-res music. A decade ago, the Super Audio CD, developed by Sony and Phillips, and the DVD-Audio Disc battled it out with neither one gaining victory. However, the SACD technology called DSD (Direct Stream Digital) is still used for processing recordings to make high-res downloads.

Compared with CD, DSD uses a higher sampling rate of the original to produce an improved recording. "It gives us back what we lost when we went to digital in the early '80s," said Gus Skinas of the Super Audio Center in Boulder, Colo., in an e-mail interview. "Even if the source for a DSD file is an analog tape master (that has not gone through a digital process), the feel you get when listening is like listening to analog tape."

"The time is right for our organization to explore new avenues to help promote this exciting audio technology," said the industry trade group's president and CEO, Gary Shapiro. "Recent market trends and research indicates that consumers are poised to embrace high-resolution audio, creating tremendous new market opportunities."

"The big winners in all the announcements this week are consumers interested in better-sounding music and alternatives to MP3s. It's that simple," says Acoustic Sounds founder Chad Kassem. "High-resolution audio is simply about giving consumers more choices. No one wants to walk into an ice cream store and only see vanilla being offered. We want music to be offered in all kinds of flavors ... and formats."